Posted on 01/23/2017 8:41:02 AM PST by w1n1
A Great 308 Shoot Off
We can compare bolt action rifle and semi-auto by specs, but it doesn't tell the full story of which rifle to fare with.
An alternative approach is to setup a course of fire that simulates an environment where you would have to utilize the skills necessary in long range precision shooting. That is calculating windage, elevation, etc, with targets at various ranges and timed.
Before going on, you're probably thinking what does this have to do for the folks into hunting. This all depends on what you're hunting and the prize that you're going after. Maybe, its land management where you have to rid of hogs or coyotes. After seeing this course of fire you can figure out which rifle you would need to get the job done. Ok, onto this course of fire explanation.
Walt explains the first course that places several large steel targets at closer range (200 to 300 yards). Second course has smaller target setup at farther distance. Two guys up front on a wedge, and three guys in the back in a wedge. This simulates that they know there’s a sniper in the area and they've gone prone and made themselves a much more difficult target to hit, a shoulders-and-head sized target. Larry goes through the course of fire shooting both rifles while being timed.
Results
-Bolt rifle time was at 29 seconds to complete. -Semi-auto rifle time was at 27 seconds to complete.
As you can tell with a semi-auto its all about how quickly you can engage the next target if needed to. Where as if you're going after that 20 pointer and out at a great distance, go with a good bolt rifle. You can see the rifle shoot off here starting at 16:28 on the video.
Nice 458 Win Mag Bolt Gun with a 22” bbl. is about right.
For me it’s all about kick. Bolt action rifles will always have more.
Ping
M-14
Yep. Mrs. FateAmenableToChange made fun of the $2000 I spent over the last couple years building my .450 Bushmaster on an AR platform until we went to the range to sight in. After she pounded her shoulder with her own gun, she tried mine. Now I need another $2000 to build myself another rifle.
I’m just hoping with Obama gone that my boating skills will improve.
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That’s not my experience whatsoever
2 seconds diff?
Long range shooting I prefer a bolt like in .243 and have the spread to follow the prey
Whitetail stand shooting I prefer semi auto even in beefy ought six
A low quality bolt will beat a low quality semi most times out
That’s an issue for budget shoppers
My Browning semi has never ever failed
My Winchester 100 has once in Texas with a ten point grazing 60 yards out from my ground blind
Click
Click
He just kept eating
I racked it
Buck did 0-40 in a split second then it was gazelle leaps as he was gone in short order
But really it’s preference and environment
I like semi autos cause I’m southern which means woods since I grew up before shooting lane food plot air strips...lol ...and I was handed that Winnie model 100 right out of the gate at around 10 as “my gun”
Were I raised in Wyoming or Nevada it’d have been a bolt or even a lever maybe
The lever 30-30 was popular in the 60s in Dixie cause it was the blue collar mans choice and was a caliber that at least sounded like one many new from the War
I've built a couple dozen rifles for the lady shooters over the years and this combo works well.
The last thing is that I did not see is anything about trigger pull.
There is no way in hell I would put a light trigger on a semi, but a good bolt rifle in the hands of an experienced long range shooter should go off with 2-2.5 lbs of crisp breaking trigger pull.
Trigger pull makes a big difference in long range accuracy. The trigger pull alone would make all the difference in making my personal decision. Everything else I can fix.
I have been using a hand me down .270 BAR for the past 18 years while deer hunting. It was my great-uncles gun, then my grandfathers, and now it is mine. Just recently I have been using a .308 AR-10 for some longer range stand hunting, but only in certain spots with some really long range lines of sight. I love my .270.
No way that’s legal in California.
I doubt there is a whole lot of difference for precision shooting. If the very last bit of accuracy is required then it is a bolt action.
I used to read Jeff Cooper mainly for his politics but he was always interesting. I do remember his once mentioning that his old Marine Sergeant preferred the 1903 Springfield to the Garand.
Just use whatever you like within reason.
Yes. The course of fire they have in the video is a long distance slow fire series, which is dandy. An M-14 can handle that course with ease. Where the '14 pays off is when one of those "silhouettes" - or six of them - pop up within 50m of you and you see them first.
For a short time in my youth, I was assigned to cover a sniper while he did his job in Vietnam. He carried a Model 70 Winchester in .30-06 with a long Unertl on it. I would move out with him till he got to his hide position and I would face the opposite way a few meters down the trail from him, covering the back door. I had my M-14 and if we were blundered into, I was the firepower for the team. He did great with his long distance stuff but he looked pretty helpless when the fight degenerated into a higher volume of fire.
That's why the M-14 is the ultimate battle rifle - kills reliably out to 5-600m if you do your part and pure distilled hell in the close fight.
I can drive a nail with a 3 pound sledgehammer, but that’s not what it’s meant for.
bump for later
I had a BAR in 30-06 back in the 70s. Handloaded at the time.
The gun esp liked Speer 130gr hollowpoints.
Could keep groups quarter size at 100 yds all day.
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